Packaging machine



- Filed March 18, 1959 July 24, 1962 H. E. ENGLESON ET Al 3,

PACKAGING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheeb 1 ii FIGI INVENTORS: HARRY E. ENGLESON ELMER D. SRAMEK July 24, 1962 H. E. ENGLESON ET AL 3,045,558

PACKAGING MACHINE Filed March 18,, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS: HARRY E. ENGLESON ELMER D. SRAMEK ATT'YS y 1962 H. E. ENGLESON ET AL 3,045,558

PACKAGING MACHINE Filed March 18, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS: HARRY E. ENGLESON ELMER D. SRAMEK H. E. ENGLESON ETAL 3,045,558

July 24, 1962 PACKAGING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 18, 1959 HARRY E. ENGLESON ELMER D. SRAMEK July 24, 1962 Filed March 18, 1959 H. E. ENGLESON ET AL PACKAGING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATT'YS y 1962 H. E. ENGLESON ET AL 3,045,558

PACKAGING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed March 18, 1959 INVENfORS: HARRY E. ENGLESON ELMER D. SRAMEK 3,045,558 PACKAGING MACHINE Harry E. Engleson, Chicago, and Elmer D. Sramek, Cicero, Ill., assignors to Crompton & Knowles Packaging Corporation, Holyoke, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Mar. 18, E59, Ser. No. 800,132 Claims. (Cl. 93-1) This invention relates in general to a packaging machine, and more particularly to a mechanism for continuously making sheets of wrapping material having opening elements secured thereto.

The present invention relates more particularly to a portion of a packaging machine which makes sheets of Wrapping material having opening elements secured thereto from an endless continuous web of wrapping material and an endless thread. The wrapping sheet with the opening element secured thereto is primarily useful in wrapping stacks of articles generally circular in shape, such as hardened candies, although other purposes will be apparent to one skilled in the art. As an example, a stack of hardened candies, annular in shape, may be initially wrapped with a sheet of wrapping material having an opening thread, and finally wrapped with a sec- 0nd sheet of material. A band is then generally arranged about the wrapped candies serving as a label. Since the opposite ends of the wrapping material are folded against the opposite ends of the stack, a completely air tight packn age is provided. The opening thread, secured on the inner face of the inner sheet of wrapping material, will have a free end extending out of the package, whereby pulling of the free end tears the Wrapping sheets along the line of thread securement thereby permitting complete access to the articles from one end of the package.

The mechanism of the present invention includes pro viding a source of endless thread, and applying a thermoplastic substance to the thread prior to joining the thread with sheets of Wrapping material. The sheets of wrapping material are formed from an endless web of wrapping material, whereby the web is cut to define sheets of pre determined length. The sheets of wrapping material and thread are placed in contact with each other on a joining roller, which functions to space apart the sheets of wrapping material along the thread. The thread and sheets are then delivered to a chiller drum, where the thermoplastic substance is hardened or set thereby securing the thread to the sheets. The thread and sheets are discharged from the chiller drum and a cutter is provided for cutting the thread at one edge of each sheet thereby leaving a free thread end extending from the other edge of each sheet. The sheets with the opening threads thereon are then delivered in spaced relationship to a wrapping station.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a wrapping machine having a mechanism for continuously making sheets of wrapping material having opening threads secured thereto.

A further object of this invention resides in the provision of a mechanism for securing an opening thread to a sheet of wrapping material, wherein the sheets of wrapping material are provided by cutting same from an endless web of material and the opening threads are provided from a source of endless thread.

A still further object of this invention is in the provision of a method of making a sheet of wrapping material having an opening thread secured thereto along one edge.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mechanism for cutting sheets of wrapping material from a Web of material, applying a thermoplastic substance to a con- 3,045,558 Patented July 24, 1962 tinuous moving thread, joining the thread with the sheets of wrapping material, and cutting the thread to define sheets of wrapping material having opening threads secured thereto.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a packaging machine embodying the mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the joining roller, taken substantially along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the mechanism for making sheets of wrapping material with opening threads secured thereto according to the invention, with some parts omitted for purposes of clarity;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, somewhat schematic elevational view of the mechanism according to the present invention and illustrating the path of movement of the wrapping material sheets and the thread;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the mechanism according to thepresent invention illustrating the spacing of the sheets of wrapping material throughout their movement through the mechanism;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a sheet of wrapping material having the opening thread secured thereto;

FIG. 7 is a perspective View of a wrapping sheet according to FIG. 6 enclosing a stack of articles;

FIG. 8 is a generally schematic view, taken substantially along line 8--8 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a generally schematic view taken substantially along line 99 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating the synchronizing driving assembly for the mechanism of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 6, the end product produced by the mechanism in the present invention is seen to be a sheet of wrapping material 10 having an opening thread 11 secured thereto and along one edge. The thread 11 also includes a portion 12 extending freely from one end of the sheet. The package is illustrated in FIG. 7, wherein a stack of hardened candies or articles are enclosed with the sheet of wrapping material. The sheet 10 will be wrapped about the stack of candies with the opening thread 11 arranged along the inner side thereof and at one end of the stack. The opposite ends of the sheet are folded over and sealed at 13, and it is seen that the free end 12 extends outwardly of the package, whereby pulling of the thread 12 removes the end 13 thereby permitting access into the package.

Referring particularly to FIG. 5, the mechanism of the present invention for making the wrapping sheets with the tear thread secured thereto as seen in FIG. 6 includes generally an applicator 14 for applying an adhesive or a thermoplastic substance to an endless thread 15, a joining roller 16 for joining the adhesive or thermoplastic coated thread and sheets of wrapping material 17, a chiller drum 18 for hardening or setting the adhesive or thermoplastic and'securing the thread to the sheets of wrapping material, and a thread cutter 19 including a pair of coacting knife rolls 20 are severing the thread adjacent one edge of each sheet of wrapping material.

The endless thread 15 is supplied from- .a spool or bobbin 21 of thread and trained upwardly over an idler roller 22. 'From the idler roller 22, the thread extends downwardly and under :a tensioning guide pin 23 and upwardly and over a grooved roller 24 and downwardly to the joining roller 16. The applicator 14 thus includes a tank or container 25 rotatably mounting the grooved roller 24 thereon which is partially immersed in the liquid adhesive or thermoplastic contained in the tank 25. The tensioning pipe 23 extends laterally from an arm 26, FIGS. 1 and 3, which is pivotally mounted on the stub shaft 27 which also freely mounts the pickup roller 24. The annular groove in the pickup roller 24 serves as a guide for the thread and the pickup roller picks up thermoplastic from the container and transfers it onto the thread as it passes thereover. Thus, the thermoplastic substance is applied to the thread by the applicator 14. Preferably, the thread used in the present invention may be linen, although other threads may also be used. It is also preferable that the thermoplastic substance comprise a mixture of microcrystalline wax and paraffin. It has been found that a mixture of 75% microcrystalline wax and 25% paraffin has been satisfactory. As seen particularly in FIG. 1, the applicator 14 as well as the other elements comprising the mechanism of the present invention are arranged along an upstanding mounting plate 28.

The sheets of wrapping material :17 are cut from a continuous web of wrapping material 29 taken from a roll of wrapping material 30 freely rotatable on a shaft 31 by a material cutter 3 2 comprised of a pair of knife rollers 33.

As seen most clearly in FIGS. 3 and 4, the web of wrapping material 29 is trained upwardly from the roll 30, over and downwardly on a driven feed roller 34. A feed roller coacts with the roller 34 and is resiliently biased thereagainst by a spring 36. Directly below the feed rollers 34 and 35 are the knife rollers 33 which sever the web at predetermined points to define lengths of wrapping paper in the form of sheets of predetermined length. Spaced directly below the knife rolls 33 is a pair of driven feed rollers 37 and 38. The roller 38 is movable and resiliently biased against the stationary roller 37 by a spring 39. The distance between the bight of the feed rollers 37 and 38 and the knife roll 33 is slightly less than the length of a cut sheet of wrapping material.

A plurality of sets of guide bars 40 are arranged between the feeding rollers 34 and 35 and the knife rolls 33, FIGS. 3 and 9, for the purpose of aiding in guiding the web along the path of movement to the knife rolls. Similarly, sets of guide bars 41 extend between the knife rolls 33 and the joining roller 16 to guide the cut sheets of wrapping material thereto as seen in FIGS. 3 and 9.

Coacting with the joining roller 16 positioned directly below the feeding roller 38 is a feeding roller 42 resiliently biased against the joining roller 16 by a spring 43 to advance the sheets along the path of movement. As seen in FIG. 9, the feed rollers 38 and 42 are split thereby having portions arranged between the guide bars 41.

A plurality of arcuately shaped and transversely spaced guide bars 44 are positioned adjacent the periphery of the joining roller 16 (FIGS. 3 and 9) for the purpose of guiding the sheets of wrapping material for aiding in urging the sheets against the continuous thread 15. As noted particularly in FIG. 9, the thread .15 will underlie the sheets of wrapping material and is positioned so as to avoid being engaged by the split feed roller 42. A second driven split feed roller 45 coacts with the joining roller 16 to feed the sheets of wrapping material from the joining roller and onto the chiller drum 18. The feed roller 45 is arranged on the upwardly moving surface of the joining roller, while the feed roller 42 is arranged on the downwardly moving surface of the joining roller. The feed roller 45 is similarly resiliently biased against the joining roller 16 by a spring 46 as is the feed roller 42, thereby giving a resilient contact with the sheets of Wrapping material. The linear distance between the feed rollers 42 and 45 is less than the length of a sheet of wrapping material, thereby assuring contact of each sheet by at least one of the feed rollers.

The joining roller 16 and its associated feeding rollers 42 and 45 have a surface linear speed greater than the surface linear speed of the feed rollers 34 and 35 delivering the web of material to the cutter 32 and the feed rollers 37 and 38 delivering the cut sheets of wrapping material to the joining roller 16. The difference in linear surface speed between the joining roller 16 and the rollers ahead thereof is accomplished through the sizing of the rollers and the gearing arrangements for driving the rollers. All of these rollers are driven from a common drive shaft 47 having a sprocket 48 secured thereto and drivingly connected to a sprocket 49 mounted on a shaft 50 of an electric motor 51 by means of an endless chain 52, 'FIG. 3.

The split feed roller 37 is also mounted on the main drive shaft 47, and a pair of spaced pinion gears 53 and 54 are similarly mounted on the main drive shaft. The pinion gear 53 meshes with a pinion gear 55 on the shaft 56 which mounts the coacting split feed roller 38 whereby the feed rollers 37 and 38 are driven in opposite directions to feed the sheets of wrapping material downwardly. The pinion gear 54 meshes with an idler gear 57 which drives the pinion gear 58 on a knife roll shaft 59 through a second idler gear 60, FIG. 10. Also mounted on the knife roll shaft 59 of one of the knife rolls 33 is a pinion gear 61 enmeshing with a pinion gear 62 on the shaft 63 of the other knife roll 33. The pinion gear 58 in turn drives an idler gear 64 enmeshing with a pinion gear 65 on a shaft 66 which mounts the feed roller 44. A second pinion gear 67 is also mounted on the shaft 66 and in meshing engagement with a pinion gear 68 on the shaft 69 of the coacting feed roller 35.

The main drive pinion gear 54 on the main drive shaft 47 also meshes with an intermediate idler gear 70 which drives the pinion gear 71 carried by the joining roller shaft 72. The joining roller shaft 72 also carries a pinion gear 73 spaced from the pinion gear 71 and in meshing engagement with pinion gears 74 and 75. The pinion gear 74 is carried on a shaft 76 which also carries the split feeding roller 42 coacting with the joiner roller 16, while the pinion gear 76 is carried on a shaft 77 which also mounts the feeding roller 45.

Inasmuch as the linear surface speed of the joining roller 16 is greater than the linear surface speed of the rollers 37 and 38, the sheets of wrapping material will be spaced apart as they pass along the joining roller a predetermined distance by an amount equal to the free end 12 of the thread extending from the sheet 10 of wrapping material, as seen in FIG. 6.

The joining roller 16 includes the main material engaging portion 78 and thread engaging portion 79, FIG. 2. The main portion 78 is peripherally grooved at 80 in order to eliminate any possible suction action by the main portion 78 relative to the sheets of wrapping material 17. The thread engaging portion 79 of the joining roller is annularly grooved at 81 to receive the thread. This portion 79 is spaced slightly or separated from the main portion 78. A heating element 82 is arranged adjacent the thread engaging portion 79 for purposes of maintaining this portion heated in order to prevent premature hardening or setting of the thermoplastic substance on the thread 15, and to slightly heat the wrapping material 17 to enhance the cohesion with the thermoplastic substance on the thread. Preferably, the wrapping material will be wax paper, and accordingly the heat from the portion 79 will aid in fusing the thermoplastic substance thereto.

The joining roller 16 feeds the thread and sheets of wrapping material onto the chiller drum 18. A plurality of arcuately shaped guide bars 83, FIGS. 1, 3 and 8, are arranged adjacent the periphery of the chiller roller for guiding the sheets therealong and maintaining the sheets in close contact with the drum. A plurality of split feed rollers, 84, 85 and 86 are circumferentially spaced apart along the chiller drum and coact therewith for conveying the sheets of wrapping material therealong. The feed rollers 84, 85 and 86 are resiliently biased against the chiller drum by springs 87, 83 and 89, respectively. The distance between the feed roller 84 and the feed roller 45 on the joining roller 16 is less than the length of a sheet of wrapping material. Likewise, the distances between the feed rollers 84 and 85, and the feed rollers 85 and 86 are less than the length of a sheet of wrapping material. This assures that each sheet of wrapping material is at all times firmly engaged by a feeding roller.

The chiller drum 18, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, is of open type construction and includes an outer cylindrical section 90 carried on a hub '91 by a plurality of radially extending arms 92. A plurality of circumferentially spaced ribs 93 are arranged on the inner side of the cylindrical section 90 to enhance the dissipation of heat. This open type construction drum is such as to assure proper air cooling of the thermoplastic substance and the wrapping material to provide the necessary hardening or setting of the thermoplastic substance thereby firmly securing the thread to the sheet of wrapping material. It may be noted in FIGS. 8 and 9 that the thread is never engaged by the feeder rollers. Only the sheets of wrapping material are engaged and driven by the feeder rollers. The sheets of wrapping material on the coolest side of the chiller roller, where the thread firmly adheres thereto, actually pulls the thread around and through the machine. The linear surface speed of the chiller drum is the same or synchronized with the linear surface speed of the joining roller. The chiller drum 18 is driven so that its linear surface speed is the same or synchronized with the linear surface speed of the joining roller 16, for it is necessary to maintain the same spacing between the sheets of wrapping material during the cooling or hardening of the thermoplastic substance. The chiller drum 18 is mounted on a shaft 94 which carries a pinion gear 95 at its inner end in meshing engagement with an idler gear 96. The idler gear 96 is in meshing engagement with the idler gear 70 which, in turn, meshes with the drive pinion 54 on the main drive shaft 47. Thus, the chiller drum is synchronized with the driving of the joining roller and the other feed rollers and driven from the same common source. The chiller drum shaft 94 alsocarries a pinion gear 97 which is in meshing engagement with pinion gears 98, 99 and 100 carried respectively on shafts 101, 102 and 103. The shafts 101, 102 and 103 respectively mount the feeder rollers 84, 85 and 86.

The sheets of wrapping material, now having the thread firmly attached thereto, are discharged tangentially from the chiller drum 18 and between transversely spaced sets of opposed vertical guide bars 104, FIGS. 3 and 8, to a pair of coacting feed rollers 105 and 106. The feed rollers 105 and 106 are spaced downwardly from the feed roller 86, with the feed roller 105 having its axis of rotation substantially along a vertical plane extending through the axis of rotation of the feed roller 86. The feed roller 106 is carried on a shaft 107 which is not movable, and the feed roller 105 is carried on a movable shaft 108. The feed roller 105 is resiliently biased against the roller 106 by a spring 109. Meshing pinion gears 110 and 111 are mounted on the inner ends of the shafts 107 and 108, respectively. The shaft 107 is provided with an extension 107a having a pinion gear 112 carried thereon in meshing engagement with idler gear 113. The idler gear 113 is driven by a pinion gear 114, the latter being driven by the pinion gear 95 on the chiller drum shaft 94 through an idler gear 115.

Spaced directly below the feed rollers 105 and 106 is the thread cutter 19 having theknife rolls 20. The knife rolls are mounted on parallel shafts 116 and 117 which are driven in unison by pinion gears 118 and 119, respectively. The shaft 117 carries an extension 117a having the pinion gear 114 mounted thereon which is driven by the chiller drum pinion gear 95 through the idler gear 115. Thus, the knife rolls 20 are synchronized with the feed rollers 105 and 106 and the other rollers of the machine.

As seen particularly in FIG. 5, knife rolls 20 are arranged to cut the thread 15 directly adjacent the leading edges of the sheets 17 thereby leaving free end 12 extending outwardly from the trailing edge of each sheet.

Additional sets of vertically extending guide bars 120*, FIG. 8, extend downwardly from the guide bars 104 to further guide the path of movement of the separated sheets of wrapping material with the thread secured thereon. A final set of coacting feed rollers 121 and 122 are arranged directly below the knife rolls 20 a distance from the feed rollers 105 and 106 less than the length of a sheet of Wrapping material. The feed rollers 121 and 122 are mounted respectively on shafts 123 and 124 having secured thereto pinion gears 125 and 126 respectively in meshing engagement with each other. The shaft 124 of the feed roller 122 is provided with an inwardly extending extension 124a having a pinion gear 127 mounted thereon in meshing engagement with an idler gear 128 which, in turn, meshes with the pinion gear 114 on the shaft extension 117a. Accordingly, the feed rollers 121 and 122 are also synchronized with the other feed rollers of the mechanism, and the peripheral speed of these rollers is the same as the peripheral speed of the feed rollers 105 and 106 and those associated with the chiller drum 18 and the joining roller 16. The feed roller 121 is resiliently biased against the roller 122 by a spring 129.

Prior to delivery of the completed sheets of wrapping material having the threads secured thereto, it is necessary to space the sheets of wrapping material further apart in order to avoid any interference at the wrapping station since there is a slight delay before each sheet of wrapping material is completely cleared from the wrapping station area. This is accomplished by a set of variable speed feed rollers 130 and 131 carried on shafts 132 and 133, respectively. The roller 1-30 is resiliently biased against the roller 131 by means of a spring 134.

The variable speed of the rollers 130 and 13 1 is produced by the variable speed drive mechanism 135, FIGS. 4 and 10, which includes a first pinion gear 136 in meshing engagement with a pinion gear 127a carried on the shaft extension 124a, a second pinion gear 137 in meshing engagement with a pinion gear 138 carried on the extension shaft 133a, and a mechanical coupling between the first and second pinion gears. This mechanical coupling includes a drive pin 139 extending laterally from the second pinion gear 137 and in slidable engagement with a diametrically extending slot 140 provided in the first pinion gear 136. The variable speed drive mechanism drives the variable speed rollers 130 and 131 at a speed substantially the same as the feed rollers 121 and 122 during the time that the completed sheet of Wrapping material is initially received by the variable speed rollers 130 and 13 1. When the trailing edges of the sheets of wrapping material leave the feed rollers 121 and 122, the variable speed rollers 130 and 131 will speed up and there-by space the sheets apart to the wrapping station.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a stack of hardened candies 141 is seen in position at the wrapping station with a completed sheet of wrapping material 10 having the opening thread 11 secured thereto. This wrapping station is adjacent a wheel 142 having circumferentially spaced pockets 14-3. A suitably operated reciprocating mechanism (not shown) forces the stack of candies 141 against the sheet of Wrapping material 10 and into the aligned pocket of the wheel 142, thereby trapping the sheet of wrapping material between the lining of the pocket and the stack of hardened candies. As seen in FIG. 1, the stack of candies are prepared by a gathering chute 144.

Accordingly, it is seen that the mechanism of the present invention makes sheets of wrapping material with the tear thread secured thereto continuously and delivers them to a wrapping station.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention, but it is understood that this application is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

1. In a packaging machine for wrapping articles in a sheet of wrapping material having an opening element therefor, mechanism for continuously making sheets of wrapping material having opening threads secured thereto comprising, a joining roller having a relatively wide main material receiving portion and a relatively thin thread receiving portion having a groove, said thread receiving portion being slightly spaced from said main material receiving portion, means for applying a thermoplastic substance to an endless thread, said thermoplastic substance coated thread being trained over said thread receiving portion of said joining roller and guidably received in said groove, means for heating said thread receiving portion to maintain the thermoplastic substance fluid, means for feeding sheets of wrapping material to said roller and in overlying relationship to said thread, the speed of the feeding means being such relative to the speed of the roller that the sheets are spaced a predetermined distance apalt on said roller, a chiller drum of open type construction and being substantially larger than said joining roller, means for guiding and feeding the sheet around the roller and said drum, means for guiding the sheets and threads from the roller and onto said drum whereby the sheets underly the thread, said chiller drum cooling said thermoplastic substance and securing the thread to the sheets, and means for severing said thread adjacent one edge of each sheet after the thread and sheets leave the drums.

2. In a packaging machine for wrapping articles in a sheet of wrapping material having an opening element therefor, mechanism for continuously making sheets of wrapping material having opening threads secured thereto comprising, a joining roller having a relatively wide main material receiving portion and a relatively thin thread receiving portion having a groove, said thread receiving portion being slightly spaced from said main material receiving portion, means for applying a thermoplastic substance to an endless thread, said thermoplastic substance coated thread being trained over said thread receiving portion of said joining roller and guidably received in said groove, means for heating said thread receiving portion to maintain the thermoplastic substance fluid, means for feeding sheets of wrapping material to said roller and in overlying relationship to said thread, the speed of the feeding means being such relative to the speed of the roller that the sheets are spaced a predetermined distance apart on said roller, a chiller drum of open type construction and being substantially larger than said joining roller, means for guiding and feeding the sheet around the roller and said drum, said guiding and feeding means including stationary guide bars coacting with the drum surface and feed rollers arranged adjacent to the drum and coacting therewith and arranged to engage the sheets laterally of said thread, means for guiding the sheets and threads from the roller and onto said drum whereby the sheets underly the thread, said chiller drum cooling said thermoplastic substance and securing the thread to the sheets, and means for severing said thread adjacent one edge of each sheet after the thread and sheets leave the drum.

3. In a packaging machine for wrapping articles in a sheet of wrapping material having an opening element therefor, mechanism for continuously making sheets of wrapping material having opening threads secured thereto comprising, a joining roller having a relatively wide main material receiving portion and a relatively thin thread receiw'ng portion having a groove, said thread receiving portion being slightly spaced from said main material receiving portion, means for applying a thermoplastic substance to an endles thread, said thermoplastic substance coated thread being trained over said thread 7 receiving portion of said joining roller and guidably received in said groove, means for heating said receiving portion to maintain the thermoplastic substance fluid, means for feeding sheets of wrapping material to said roller and in overlying relationship to said thread, the speed of the feeding means being such relative to the speed of the roller that the sheets are spaced a predetermined distance apart on said roller, a chiller drum of open type construction and being substantially larger than said joining roller, means for guiding and feeding the sheet around the roller and said drum, said guiding and feeding means including stationary guide bars coacting with the drum surface and feed rollers arranged adjacent to the drum and coacting therewith, said feed rollers being spaced apart a distance less than the length of each sheet and arranged to engage the sheets laterally of said thread, means for guiding the sheets and threads from the roller and onto said drum whereby the sheets underly the thread, said chiller drum cooling said thermoplastic substance and securing the thread to the sheets, and means for severing said thread adjacent one edge of each sheet after the thread and sheets leave the drum.

4. In a packaging machine for wrapping articles in a sheet of wrapping material having an opening element therefor, mechanism for continuously making sheets of wrapping material having opening threads secured thereto comprising, a joining roller having a relatively wide main material receiving portion and a relatively thin thread receiving portion having a groove, said thread receiving portion being slightly spaced from said main material receiving portion, means for applying a thermoplastic substance to an endless thread, said thermoplastic substance coated thread being trained over said thread receiving portion of said joining roller and guidably received in said groove, means for heating said thread receiving portion to maintain the thermoplastic substance fluid, means for cutting a continuously moving web of wrapping material into sheets of predetermined size, means for feeding said sheets to said roller and in overlying relationship to said thread, means for driving said roller at a greater speed than said sheet feeding means thereby spacing said sheets a predetermined distance apart on said roller and thread, means for guiding the sheets around a major arc of said roller, feed rollers coacting with said joining roller for advancing said sheets, a chiller drum of open type construction, means for guiding the sheets and thread from the joining roller and onto the chiller drum whereby the sheets underly the thread, said chiller drum cooling and setting the thermoplastic substance thereby securing the thread to the sheets, feed rollers coacting with said chiller drum to advance the sheets and arranged to engage the sheets laterally of said thread, guide bars spaced closely to said drum for guiding the sheets, and cutting means adjacent said drum for cutting said thread adjacent one edge of each sheet after the thread and sheets leave the drum.

5. In a packaging machine for wrapping articles in a sheet of wrapping material having an opening element therefor, mechanism for continuously making sheets of wrapping material having opening threads secured thereto comprising, a joining roller having a relatively wide main material receiving portion and a relatively thin thread receiving portion having a groove, said thread receiving portion being slightly spaced from said main material receiving portion, means for applying a thermoplastic substance to an endless thread, said thermoplastic substance coated thread being trained over said thread receiving portion of said joining roller and guidably received in said groove, means for heating said thread receiving portion to maintain the thermoplastic substance fluid, means for cutting a continuously moving web of wrapping material into sheets of predetermined size, means for feeding said sheets to said roller and in overlying relationship to said thread, means for driving said roller at a greater speed than said sheet feeding means thereby spacing said sheets a predetermined distance apart on said roller and thread, means for guiding the sheets around a major arc of said roller, feed rollers coacting With said joining roller for advancing said sheets, chiller drum of open type construction, means for guiding the sheets and thread from the joining roller and onto the chiller drum whereby the sheets underly the thread, said chiller drum cooling and setting the thermoplastic substance thereby securing the thread to the sheets and being substantially larger than said joining roller, feed rollers coacting With said chiller drum to advance the sheets, said feed rollers being spaced apart less than the length of the sheets and arranged to engage the sheets laterally of said thread, guide bars spaced closely to said drum for guiding the sheets,

and cutting means adjacent said drum for cutting said thread adjacent one edge of each sheet after the thread and sheets leave the drum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 045558 July 2 .1 1962 Harry E. Engleson et al His hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 2" line 64 for "are" read for column 3, line 4, for "pipe" read pin column 7 lines 27 and 59, column 8, lines 17 and 47,, and column 9, line 6, for "under1y",, each occurrence read underlie column 7, line 81 for "drums" read drum column 8 line 1 before "receiving" insert thread Signed and sealed this 11th day of December 1962.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST w. SWIDER DAVID LADD Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

